A fashion talk show will be held by a local theatre group on Saturday at Macau Tower. The performers and other team members shared their thoughts on preparing for the show in an exclusive interview with The Macau Post Daily on Saturday.
Established in January 2017, Frost Ice Snow Creative Experimental Theatre is a non-profit youth theatre group in Macau that aims to innovate, challenge and break through locals’ understanding of theatre arts by presenting their creations to people in the city.
Traditional yet ground-breaking
The fashion talk show, combining fashion elements into a talk show performance, with the costumes based on the theme of “Macau”, will be divided into four sections: Festivals and Celebrations, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Street and Architecture, Language and Culture, with each theme corresponding to four costumes.
According to the Programme Director Lam Wai Kei, there will be four performers expressing these themes in their own way to match the costumes they wear, using their body language, as well as their own spoken words.
Costume designer Ng Chi Wai noted that the costumes on display combined different materials to create a special presentation of the specific themes, which she described as “traditional yet ground-breaking”. Ng added that with the help of her teammates, it took them six months to make a total of 16 costumes, which will be showcased on Saturday.
Tweaking the script until the last minute
Talking about the inspiration of the show, Lam said it was when Ng graduated from a fashion and art institution in Shanghai that were inspired to come up with the idea of combining a costume show with a talk show.
Co-writer and also one of the performers Ng Chi Ieng, said their team has been exploring experimental performing arts, in the hope of giving the audience multiple layers of entertainment while looking at the costumes and listening to the talk show.
Ng underlined that the four themes were chosen to resonate with the audience and express their love for the city, where they were born and raised.
Lam pointed out that the biggest challenge of doing a talk show is that the performers only speak, unlike the plays they’ve been doing, where there are scenes, different characters and other actors to work with, so that it’s fixed, Lam noted, “whereas the script for the talk show may be changing until the last minute.” Lam said.
Lam said the performers have been working day and night to memorise their lines,” It has been a lot of mental pressure over the past two months,” Lam revealed.
“Because I won’t know if it’s the best version until the last minute,” Lam said.
Art is more than just language
Performing in Cantonese, with Portuguese interspersed throughout the talk show, Lam said she believes the audience can still enjoy the show through the actors’ costumes and stage presence, “as language is just a communication tool”, Lam added that she welcomes audiences who speak any language to enjoy their performance.
Lam said she feels excited at the upcoming performance at the Macau Tower, which she considered to be like a fair lady, “I believe that a fashion show matches perfectly with the Macau Tower, as it is an icon of our city,” Lam underlined, hoping that the audience would be able to feel the charm of Macau’s famous landmark during their performance.
“When we actually got on stage, we realised that we were very close to the Macau Tower because it’s from where one can look down on the whole city”. Lam said that was when she felt the most surrounded by the city, and the idea of their performance blending in with the scenery made her and her team even more excited.
The fashion talk show will take place on Saturday night at 8 p.m. at the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre. Tickets for this performance are 160 patacas, with a discounted price of 130 patacas for full-time students. For tickets and more information, please visit https://www.icetheatremacao.com or call 6206 0712.
The fashion talk show poster downloaded from the group’s Facebook page yesterday.
This photo taken on Saturday shows Programme Director Lam Wai Kei (right), co-writer and performer Ng Chi Ieng (centre), and Costume designer Ng Chi Wai talking to The Macau Post Daily reporter in a café in the General Union of Neighbourhood Associations Macau (Kai Fong) Headquarters – Photo: Frost Ice Snow Creative Experimental Theatre
This photo provided by Ng Chi Wai yesterday shows her costume design sketches.
This undated photo provided by Ng Chi Wai yesterday shows her posing in her studio.
